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Stennis strike group get new commander

Kitsap Sun (Bremerton, WA) - Thursday, April 5, 2012

Author: Kitsap Sun staff, Kitsap Sun

BREMERTON — Rear Adm. CharlesGaouette relieved Rear Adm. Craig Faller as commander of Carrier Strike Group 3 during a change-of-command ceremony Thursday aboard the aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis.

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http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2018971614_apwapanetta4thldwritethru.html

Panetta speaks to Bremerton sailors

August 22, 2012

Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta spoke to more than 2,000 sailors on the USS John C. Stennis prior to their deployment back to the Middle East.

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The Stennis leaves on Monday.

Panetta recognized their quick turnaround back to the Middle East.

“I know it can be tough, but it’s also something that makes us very proud,” he said.

Talking with reporters after the event, Panetta said that the deployment “deals with a lot of threats in the Middle East right now” including Iran and the continuing turmoil in Syria.

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http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=117633

Sailors: Early Deployment Tough, but ‘We’re Needed’

By Karen Parrish
American Forces Press Service

NAVAL BASE KITSAP, Wash., Aug. 24, 2012 – In July, the crew of the aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis learned their ship would deploy four months earlier than planned, and to a different part of the world than expected. Less than two months later, they report they’re ready to go.

Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta visited the ship this week to thank the sailors for their service and their extraordinary effort in preparing the ship. During his visit, some of the crew discussed with American Forces Press Service what their summer has involved.

Petty Officer 1st Class Alex Armour has spent 10 years in the Navy, with two on the Stennis. Armour took part in the ship’s last deployment, seven months in the Middle East, which ended in early March.

“We went from place to place [for] port visits,” he said, “but we spent the majority of our time in the [Persian] Gulf.”

Word of the next deployment -– back to the Middle East — came in July, he said, while the ship was underway for training. Many of the sailors were anticipating the deployment that had been previously announced, which would have taken the Stennis carrier strike group to the Pacific later in the year, Armour added.

“A lot of people had made plans; they weren’t planning on being out to sea [again] so quickly,” he said. “The turn-around was really quick for us. … We had to qualify the carrier and the strike group once again; just all this stuff got crunched into a four-month period. And that, I know, weighed a lot of stress [on] the personnel on board, as well as the chain of command.”

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Rear Adm. Charles M. Gaouette commands Carrier Strike Group Three, the Stennis strike group. Gaouette put word on the deployment out to the crew as soon as he heard it last month, Harrell said.

“We gathered on the ship – we were underway at the time – had an all-hands call, and the admiral addressed the crew,” Harrell said, adding that the admiral’s main aim was to let everyone know what was coming so they could start to prepare.

The change in deployment date affected everything from supply timelines to stress management, he noted.

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